JSS 9.32 - Config Profiles & Custom Settings with 10.9.x Not Applying Properly

[scrull]

I've been trying to deploy Office 2011 preferences using Casper this week without much success. I've been using the Configuration Profiles --> Custom Settings to create .plist files which should be copying to the System and User Profile directories with the .plists I've uploaded, but I've found this to not be the case.

My environment:

JSS Version: 9.32
OS Version: 10.9.4

Here are the steps I'm following:

1) Set Preferences on User Account to Generate .plist Files
2) Convert .plists to XML
3) Upload into Casper as Custom Settings within Configuration Profiles

Everything uploads fine and deploys fine, but when I evaluate the workstation I find that it copies the files to these directories, not the correct ones. Casper currently deploys my .plists to:

- /Library/Managed Preferences
- /Library/Managed Preferences/useraccount

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However, when placed into these directories, the .plist preferences are not applied to the user or at a system level (i.e. Office 2011 license activation).

Here is how my config profiles are setup currently. Can someone take a look and tell me what I'm doing wrong? Thanks.

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I should also note that I've attempted changing the "preference domain" to simply the name of the .plist file (i.e. com.microsoft.office.plist). The result can be seen in the first image. If I specific a filepath as seen in the second image, the .plist doesn't generate at all.

[Chris]

Check out this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7dGaULnY4o
There's also a part that covers Office '11 settings.

[scrull]

@Chris][/url

I understand how .plists work and am replicating the exact same steps the user in the demo video performs to successfully apply the preferences, however, the .plists are not being generated in the correct location. It still is prompting me for activation on Office after installing the profile for all users:

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[Chris]

Using Profiles will not generate/modify the .plist files as MCX did,
they just "work" (or not, in certain cases ;) ).
I'm not sure if the Office licensing can be managed with Profiles at all,
but if you use the Volume Licensing Installer from MS, you shouldn't have to activate anything.
You could also activate one installation manually and take the file /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist and deploy it to your other machines to activate them.
Some Office patches break the Volume License activation, Rich has a great blog entry about the problem
http://derflounder.wordpress.com/2014/04/09/creating-an-office-2011-sp-4-14-4-1-installer/

[scrull]

Interesting. So, does this JAMF article no longer apply? It is a 2010 article, so who knows.

http://resources.jamfsoftware.com/documents/white-papers/Administering-Microsoft-Office-for-Mac-2011-with-the-Casper-Suite.pdf

According to JAMF, the profiles are supposed to manage this. How are you managing Office preferences? I mean, I suppose I could just make a logon policy that copies the .plist for Office preferences from /Library/Managed Preferences to /Library/Preferences and one level deeper for user policies, but I feel like that is a half-ass solution to what an enterprise tool like Casper should be doing for me.

Sorry, I'm a little frustrated at this point. Thank you for the help - I appreciate it.

[bentoms]

@scrull are these user or computer level profiles.

I think the license needs to be computer & the rest user.

BUT, I have had mixed success with profiles & office. I use managed preferences still.

[scrull]

@bentoms

I've tried both but with no success in dealing with Office 2011. It does work for things like Time Machine, Bluetooth, Airport, etc.

[bentoms]

@scrull maybe try managed preferences then?

[golbiga]

@scrull what is the output of system_profiler SPManagedClientDataType? I have an Office 2011 profile that works just fine. What does your profile look like and what are you trying to manage in it?

[scrull]

@bentoms][/url][/url I'd use Managed Preferences, but I've been told by JAMF that Configuration Profiles will be superseding them shortly and to not invest time in them for production

@golbiga][/url Here is the output of System_Profiler SPManagedClientDataType:

http://webpages.uncc.edu/~scrull/system_profiler_output.txt

Right now, I'm just testing the Office Licensing .plist at a Computer level. Once that is working I can move on to user preferences.

[bentoms]

@scrull they might & looks like @golbiga has had success with this.

I've struggled with some apps & profiles & so reverted to MCX.

[Chris · Accepted solution]

Try managing a different Office setting, like Auto-Update or the First Run Assistant
to check if that works.
As mentioned above, managing the licensing should not be necessary at all,
plus i don't know if it can even be done
(http://blog.michael.kuron-germany.de/tag/com-microsoft-office-licensing/ says it can't)
I have working profiles for Office Auto-Update, First Run Assistants, Error Reporting settings etc., can post them tomorrow when i'm back at the office

[scrull]

@Chris][/url][/url
Just tried again with the Config Profile running both at a "Computer Level" and "User Level" for all the remaining .plists with no success. It still shows the first time run wizard and its related prompts. If I copy those .plists manually over to the profile, everything works.

@golbiga][/url][/url can you send me your config profile for me to compare notes?

Thanks everyone.

[scrull]

Actually, I take that back. When the remaining .plist settings are implemented using Configuration Profiles at a "Computer Level" everything sticks and the first time run wizard does not run and I can see the username and company name populate when Word, Powerpoint and Excel are launched.

PLISTs Confirmed Working (now): - com.microsoft.office - com.microsoft.error_reporting - com.microsoft.autoupdate2 - com.microsoft.Word - com.microsoft.Excel - com.microsoft.Powerpoint

I had made the mistake a second ago of running a different config file which was "User Level" profile and had logged in with a fresh account.

So, it seems that the only .plist holding me back now is the com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist file. I'll double check the Microsoft Office 2011 package in Composer to see if this file wasn't included during the system state capture. I'd be willing to bet that has been causing my grief this entire time.